Leadership skills training development courses, programs, tool kits, books, seminars and workshops are great ways for creating, building and enriching energy in your life, your career and your organization! This "weblog" uses leadership skills-related quotes, articles, research, findings, practical examples and assessments to help you plan, organize, communicate and manage for growth through all your leadership skills training and development endeavors.

About Me

Bill Thomas is Managing Principal of Mustard Seed Investments, Inc. He is also Publisher and Director of the Leadership-Toolkit[TM], Awesome Leaders![TM] and Innovative Leadership Seminars![TM]. He trains and coaches clients in over 75 countries on various business, organizational leadership, innovative business practices, strategy and technology issues. He also writes papers and consults and lectures on the new models, skills and resources required for wealth creation by knowledge professionals and executives in the Imagination Age.

Monday, August 04, 2008

Leadership training must evolve beyond programs of improving basic business leadership skills. While discussing the fundamentals of delegation, running meetings, "motivating" employees and public speaking may be OK for newly minted supervisors, it's really inadequate for the majority of professionals who rely on executive management training to survive in their leadership positions.

If you do not think we need to change our leadership skills trainingstrategies, here are a few reasons why we should. Our world enjoys a level playing field which empowers billions of people to attain greater prosperity. At the same time, more people are acquiring and improving their business leadership skills through formal educational programs or their own informal development efforts.

The many advances made in computing, communications and other commercialization technologies offer everybody opportunities to quickly develop and sell their ideas. As improvements in the physical technology arenas continue to capture media attention, most business leadership skills courses and leadership training endeavors fail to improve our expertise in applying social technology.

Some people call this period of human history, the Age of Knowledge, yet still others, like me, say it is the Imagination Age. Indeed, we even find ourselves questioning deeply-held priorities, like our use of natural, human and man-made resources, in response to ever-increasing social pressures.

However, leadership training programs, especially in today's competitive economy, should prepare executives, management candidates and entrepreneurs to energize their business leadership skills in such areas as:

Innovation strategy development

Talent management and human capital enrichment

Technology portfolio designs and analysis

Business systems requirements and analysis

Coaching, facilitation and consulting techniques

Value-oriented analytics and engineering principles

All these subjects and others can help you boost growth and improve your performance on the "bottom-line". But more importantly, directors, executives and managers who work in non profits, a governmental agency or a service organization simply do not understand the contributions of those same subjects to their future success.

When selecting your next leadership training, business leadership skills or executive management training program use the following three tips.

Tip-1 - What Philosophy Is Being Promoted?Any leadership training program attempts to help you discover the nature, causes and principles associated with the reality of leading, applying the knowledge base of leadership and the reasoning used by leaders.

That statement defines the philosophy of most leadership development programs. However, it's up to you to assess, measure and comprehend the scope, depth and intensity of your leadership training courses. You do have to evaluate when the needs of your business leadership skills are not being served by your executive management training program.

Tip-2 - How Does This Leadership Training Strategy Work for You?These days there quite a few numbers of effective, efficient and efficacious educational techniques, delivery systems and program support strategies available to you.

Obviously, you will want to use your schedule, your learning style preferences and your personal as well as your professional requirements to gauge your leadership training options.

Your business leadership skills will be strengthened, sharpened and stimulated if you employ a long-term (6-12 months or longer) executive management training regimen.

Tip-3 - Why Will These Activities Energize Your Business Leadership Skills?An excellent leadership training program will include classroom or instructor-led, self-directed or home-study and in-service learning activities. Involving this variety of learning situations increases the energy levels of your business leadership skills.

In other words, the doing, dissecting and developing of your leadership performances enables you to more effectively absorb your 'lessons' physically, mentally, spiritually, emotionally and psychologically. That's why world-class organizations give their promising performers executive management training for 2, 3 or more years.

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Finally, the last and most critical "Tips" I will share with you are these -

Search for an executive management training program that adds richness, texture, luster, power and scope to the depth, capacity, value, quality and competency of your business leadership skills and experiences on a daily basis!

Invest in leadership training that will help you realize the ideals, opportunities and goals described in these Tips and you will make outstanding contributions to your organization, to your community and to our world.